Omnivore Atlanta

The Bruery
Placentia, CA
8.5% ABV

The Bruery has been making a name for itself out in the highly competitive Southern California beer scene with its Belgian-inspired artisanal beers and has recently begun distributing in Georgia. Saison Rue is a Belgian/French farmhouse-style ale brewed with malted rye and fermented with wild Brettanomyces yeast, giving it a tart fruitiness and a distinct spiciness. It is bottle-conditioned, unfiltered, and presented in a  750-ml champagne bottle with a cork and wire cage closure. If you are looking for a unique beer to serve with Thanksgiving dinner, this is an excellent choice; but be forewarned that it is not a typical saison.

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Hennepin saison from Brewery Ommegang

If you are dreading the uninspired jug of chardonnay or white zin that your in-laws break out every Thanksgiving, why not shake things up a bit by bringing something out of the ordinary, something special, something with a beautiful label and a cork-and-cage closure that opens with a satisfying pop? No, not Champagne, but beer.

Sure, MGD or Bud Light are fine when you’re chilling in front of the TV watching the game, but finding something appropriate for the dinner table can be a bit more intimidating. So many different flavors and textures are part of the mix, and not everyone has the palate for a complex, richly-flavored  beer. But don’t despair; there are a number of excellent options that can outshine any wine.

Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver, author of The Brewmaster’s Table, a book celebrating the pairing of beer and food, finds that bière de gardes, the earthy, country-style ales brewed in the border region between France and Belgium, are the quintessential Thanksgiving beers, and it’s not necessarily because they pair well with turkey. “Well, let’s face it–the Butterball is a sideshow; modern turkeys don’t really have much flavor,” Oliver writes. “[But] both [the stuffing and the gravy] have strong herbal flavors, which anchor the match with the beer’s herbal flavors. Then the caramelized malt meets the brown turkey skin, the biscuity malt flavors match the lightly nutty flavor of the meat, and the carbonation lifts everything, so you don’t realize you’re eating so much.” (more…)

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Crawford Moran with a city water beer

The nifty rainwater collection system that 5 Seasons Brewing Company installed at their Westside brewpub location in September attracted plenty of attention. Apparently CNN saw my Talking Head story on it and decided to run their own short feature.

Unfortunately, the story also got the attention of various local, state, and federal regulators, who whipped out their statute books to find that there are no guidelines for the use of rainwater in beer, so therefore it must be illegal.

“We weren’t thinking about hiding it, because we had no idea it would be a problem,” says brewer Crawford Moran. “The system produces ‘potable water,’ which is the standard for commercial applications, but that doesn’t necessarily translate [to a brewpub], because there’s no regulating authority.”

The system, installed by RainHarvest Systems of Cumming, Georgia, has been used in commercial operations before, and the 6-stage filtration system filters down to 0.5 microns, followed by a UV filter that kills bacteria. It produces water so pure that the University of Georgia Soil and Water Laboratory, the certified lab that tested the sample from 5 Seasons, fairly gushed about it in its normally staid scientific assessment. No matter. The brewery could have dug a well on the site of the former stockyard without even having the water tested. (more…)

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Baltic Porter
Zywiec Breweries PLC
Zywiec, POL
9.5% ABV

Ordinarily, I steer clear of Eastern European beers. Most of these imports are the ubiqitous European pale lager, or the uniquely bad Slavic version of American malt liquor–sickly sweet and corny, with a wallop to the head that leaves the word “hangover” imprinted on your cheek. This Heineken-owned brewery in Poland produces several such beers, mostly for the local market, but this huge Baltic porter is fairly widely available in the U.S. and really stands out from the crowd. Loaded with roasty toastiness, deep fruity notes, and an herbal, bitter edge, it is satisfyingly rich, with a kick like a Polish draft horse.

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Love at the Pub tells the story of the Brick Store

I am so glad Rocktober is over, because that means that it is Novembeer. Although I don’t expect Gov. Purdue to declare it officially, I am herewith designating this as the unofficial silly pun name for this month. Novembeer is when we all get together with our loved ones and give thanks for beer. It is also that time of the year when the breweries release their winter seasonals and holiday beers. It is a good month.

There is a lot to look forward to this Novembeer if you are a beer lover, including a new Taco Mac, the release of Love at the Pub, the story of the Brick Store Pub, a host of beer dinners and tastings, and a slew of new beer releases, both local and from beyond Georgia. Here are a few of the highlights of just the next two weeks!

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POPEYES CRUSADER: No, really. I look exactly like that.

A few weeks back, Hardy Wallace (AKA Dirty South Wine) asked me to participate in his Popeyes challenge. The task? Find a wine to pair with Popeye’s spicy fried chicken. On November 18, around the country, folks will get together to try all five wines along with the chicken, and tweet, blog and smack-talk their way to deciding which wine chosen pairs best with the spicy bird.

This was NOT an easy pairing. The spice on Popeye’s spicy chicken is such that it decimates most wines, leaving nothing but alcohol or off-notes on the palate. But with the help of some friends, I burned through over 30 bottles to find the wine. (Special thanks to Aria’s Andres Loaiza who lent his palate and a bunch of bottles to the final tasting. Unfortunately Cliff doesn’t drink, so I couldn’t put his Popeyes expertize to use.) My pick?

Kiralyudvar Tokaji Sec 2005-  Dry Hungarian Furmint

Check out the other picks and rules to the game on Hardy’s blog, and join in on November 18!

(Photo courtesy of CapedWonder.com)

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Brooklyn's Manhattan Project at Leon's Full Service

Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver is one of the industry’s staunchest defenders of traditional brewing styles. The brewery’s core offerings are straightforward versions of an American lager, a German pilsner, and an English IPA. His book, The Brewmaster’s Table, is a sophisticated look at Old World styles and their natural affinities for food. But while Oliver has been portrayed as something of a curmudgeon when compared to envelope-pushing brewers like Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione, his Brewmaster’s Reserve series has shown remarkable creativity. The latest offering in the series is a collaboration with cocktail expert and James Beard award winner David Wondrich, a strong ale brewed with rye malt, botanicals, and tart cherry that seeks to replicate the bittersweet balance of a classic Manhattan cocktail. (more…)

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PAY UP: In theory, there should be no such thing as a drink special in Atlanta.

Chalk it up to a city that seems hell-bent on stymieing the flow of booze: Along with rolled-back bar hours, blue Sundays and Kafkaesque liquor license applications, it’s totally illegal for bars and restaurants to serve discounted drinks.

Happy hour? Nope, not unless the prices are the same during every other hour. Half-price bottles of wine? Technically, not allowed. A bottomless glass of wine for a set price? Not even close.

“To offer a special, you basically have to offer it every day,” attorney Hakim Hilliard says. “So it can’t be a special.”

What about a place that offers a particular type of liquor only on a certain day — say, a pizzeria that sells $2 margaritas on Tuesdays? Because margaritas aren’t sold any other day, that’s not a discount, right?

“I think that’s a stretch,” says Hilliard, who’s familiar with the law both as a former city attorney and as a lawyer who’s represented bars and restaurants charged with violations of Atlanta’s liquor code.

The specific law Hilliard cites has been on the books since at least the late ’70s. The law makes it illegal to sell “any alcoholic beverage at a price less than the price regularly charged for such alcoholic beverage during the same calendar week.” It also outlaws “using coupons or other special promotional items as an inducement to purchase alcoholic beverages.”

Continue reading “Feature: Unhappy hour”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Oompa Loompas at the Brick Store Pub

Hotoberfest, taking place in Glenwood Park in East Atlanta on Sat., Oct 3 from noon-7 p.m., promises “Earth. Beer. Music.” Which are three things I really like. Especially beer. No offense, Earth, but you just don’t taste as good with pizza. The event puts a new twist on the traditional beer tasting festival by having many of the vendors in a free ”World Market” area encircling the Glenwood Park pond, which will feature retail beer and food sales, artists, music on a solar-powered stage, and informational displays on sustainable and environmentally responsible products and services.

However, if beer is your focus, purchase a ticket to the Beer Tasting area for $30 in advance ($35 at the gate) and get unlimited sampling from almost 150 beers. Select your favorites and vote for the Best Brew, a people’s choice award presented to the top 3 picks. If you want to get really decadent, purchase a $50 ticket that will grant you access to the VIP tent where there will be over two dozen special beers, some brewed just for the occasion, such as an aged cask from Sweetwater, and special offerings from Twain’s, Atlanta Brewing Company, and Lagunitas. Oh yeah, and VIP bathrooms. Proceeds from Hotoberfest benefit Dialogue, Trees Atlanta, and Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. (more…)

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The Oktoberfest beers are arriving at a rapid pace, so its time to get warmed up on some strong, malty lagers, even if the warm weather does linger a bit longer in Georgia than it does in Germany. American craft brewers are releasing their fall seasonals as well, marking the beginning of the dark beer season.

If you want to find out what the fall seasonals are all about, sign up for the monthly beer tasting at The Porter Beer Bar that takes place Wed., Sept. 16, at 7:30, featuring pumpkin beers and Oktoberfests (also known as marzens or festbiers). Six samples will be served for $20. Call the bar at 404-223-0393 to reserve your spot. Speaking of the Porter Beer Bar, the little-gastropub-that-could is celebrating its first anniversary in Little Five Points, a significant landmark in that culinary Bermuda Triangle. They will be celebrating all day Sat., Sept. 12, with 30 special kegs and two casks. (more…)

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New Belgium Brewing Company
Ft. Collins, CO
6% ABV

This golden ale pours a bright gold with excellent clarity. A decent head settles to a ring and leaves a bit of lacing. A beautiful beer that should be served in a pilsner glass to show off its glowing color. The aroma is of floral, fruity hops, with some definite grapefruity citrus and a hint of honey sweetness. The bright citrusy, piney hops lead the flavor profile, with some dry, biscuity malts following closely behind. Clean orchard fruits (apple, pear) lends some sweetness, but overall this is a dry, almost powdery ale. The mouthfeel is medium-light, with a nice spritzy bite and mild bitterness. Easy-drinking, with plenty of hop flavor and good balance, this is a nice session beer that is well suited to autumn weather in Atlanta.

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Raining beer: The rainwater catchment system at 5 Season Westside

I just heard the best news to come down the pike since Stone Brewing came to town. Even if Judge Magnuson pulls the plug on Atlanta’s Chatahoochee River water supply in 3 years, there will still be beer at 5 Seasons Westside.

The recently opened restaurant and brewery, which already fires its brewing kettles with used cooking oil from its kitchens, announced that it has installed a rainwater catchment system from RainHarvest Systems of Cumming that will provide all the water for their beer. The water is purified through 6 stages of filtration, followed by a dual-beam ultraviolet sterilization that results in water of superior quality to tap water. “The processed rainwater not only fulfills our commitment to environmentally responsible production, but it also tastes better than municipal water, which ultimately makes a smoother, better tasting beer,” says head brewer Crawford Moran. “We’re the only brewery in the world doing this.” (more…)

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While you have been lounging by the pool this summer, Terrapin Beer Company’s Spike Buckowski has been slaving over a hot brew kettle to bring you a slew of new brews. Side Project No. 7 is out now, an easy-drinking saison dubbed Maggie Farmhouse Ale. This 6.0% ABV Belgian-style pale ale has a soft palate and fairly light body from a wheat addition, with some white pepper spiciness to give it an edge. It’s a nice balance of dry, bready malts, a bit of green apple tartness, tangy yeast, and a clean hop bitterness in the finish. It would make a perfect complement to a light summer meal.

Terrapin is replacing the summer seasonal in its Monster Beer Tour, the All-American Imperial Pilsner, with Gamma Ray Wheatwine, a potent and tasty Side Project from last year that will join the regular rotation. The release was delayed somewhat, but word is that bottling will take place next week, and the beer will hit shelves near the end of the month or in early September. Wheatwines are a rare style, and we are lucky to have a damned good one brewed right here in Georgia on a regular basis. (more…)

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I walk in the door with sweat still dewing my face, having just transitioned from goosebumpy temps at the office, walking through roasting heat, then into a baking sauna doubling as my dark-blue vehicle. In 95 degrees, the air conditioning has little hope of keeping up and it groans under the stress. I refocus on positive thoughts, the contents of my fridge: ribeye steaks, homemade Caesar salad fixings, and a few cold white wines. But wait, those two things don’t mesh, right — steak and white wine? Perhaps a red would fare better like traditional cabernet sauvignon, a burly merlot or a smoky Spanish number? But my pits still glisten, so even chilled red wine isn’t going to cut through this humid evening.

I sprinkle tart, savory Worstershire sauce on the ribeyes, along with dry sherry, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, ancho chile powder and fresh black pepper. Geez, I’m salivating already. Not sure how vegetarians live without the bounty of beef. That would just suck — a jiggling slab of grilled tofu doesn’t reach the same level of toothsome culinary bliss.

Read more of Keeping Your Cool.

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Looking to squeeze in one more beer-inspired road trip before the end of summer? Here are three events within a half-day drive in fun-to-visit cities.

Southern Brewers Festival

Cruise up to Chattanooga next weekend for the Southern Brewers Festival on Sat., Aug. 22. Now in its 15th year, the Southern Brewers Festival brings brewers from throughout the Southeast and beyond to the downtown Chattanooga waterfront for a full day of music, food, and of course, beer. Proceeds benefit Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block, a program that uses child-sized puppets to educate children about social differences and give them the skills to stay safe and healthy.

The participating brewers include all three of Georgia’s microbreweries, as well as a number of breweries and brewpubs from Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina. Among the participants that do not distribute in Georgia are Foothills Brewing of Winston-Salem, NC, Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City, MO, and Yazoo Brewing of Nashville, TN. (more…)

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David Aferiat is an Atlantan and semi-finalist for the second season of the PBS reality series, “The Winemakers.” The first season debuts next month.  Check out Aferiat’s blog and watch his video below.

Can Atlanta produce another national wine star like Hardy “Dirty South” Wallace?

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Sweetwater Brewing Company will be releasing its fall seasonal, Sweetwater Motorboat ESB on Aug. 7. The beer will be available in 6-packs and on draft. Introduced last fall, Motorboat was an unqualified success, winning a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the ESB category and selling out in about 6 weeks. Steve Farace of Sweetwater promises that there will be more to go around this year.

Never one to be constrained by style guidelines, Sweetwater brews Motorboat with a generous dose of hops, including a dry-hopping with Cascade, and loads it with toasted malt, making it more like an amber ale than a typical British bitter. This year’s version will follow the same path. “We’ve upped the ante a bit on the hop bill this year, but we’re not monkeying around with it, just improving it,” says Farace. ”With a beer like Motorboat it’s all about balance in a fall seasonal.”

One could say things are going swimmingly right now at Sweetwater. The Dank Tank series of specialty brews is getting settled in, with the next offering being a blueberry Belgian ale brewed with 750 pounds of organic, Georgia-raised blueberries and wheat and rye malts due out Aug. 20. The 8.5% beer will be called Big Ol’ Blue Balls, in true Sweetwater double-entendre fashion. The popular brewery “tours” on Wednesday through Friday have been expanded to include Saturday afternoon from 2:30-4:30 p.m. and special casks are now offered on Wednesday to take some pressure off the Friday evening gatherings. “The casks have really been going great,” says Farace. “It gives us a chance to experiment with our core beers, adding fruit, dry-hopping, or whatever we want to try.” (more…)

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Coney Island Lager will be the featured “Beer of the Month” at all Taco Mac locations in Georgia for the month of August. Every Thursday of the month, the first 100 patrons ordering Coney Island Lager will receive a signature Coney Island glass. To celebrate, Coney Island Craft Lagers is bringing MC and medical-oddities-poster-boy Donny Vomit to town next week for appearances at two Taco Mac locations, as well as performances at The Porter Beer Bar and The 5 Spot. Vomit (or should that be Mr. Vomit?) is the inspiration for Coney Island’s Human Blockhead Tough-as-Nails Lager, a 10% ABV nail to the sinuses that is dangerously smooth and drinkable. The Coney Island series features 6 off-kilter creations honoring that most American of entertainments, the Freak Show, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Coney Island USA, a non-profit dedicated to preserving lost forms of pop art and culture.

On Mon., Aug. 3, Donny Vomit will be at Taco Mac Perimeter at 5:30 p.m. and Taco Mac Metropolis in Midtown at 7 p.m. He will perform at the The Porter Beer Bar in Little Five Points at 9 p.m. the same night. The freak show continues on Tues., Aug 4 at The 5 Spot where Donny will host an evening of extraordinary feats, burlesque dancing from Blast Off Burlesque, and carnival-themed films and music. An art reception featuring local artists will kick off the evening at 7 p.m. All of the performances are free.

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Great Divide Brewing Company
Denver, CO
10.0% ABV

Great Divide celebrates its 15th year in business with a potent Double India Pale Ale aged on French and American oak to “round off the edges.” Indeed, it’s a very drinkable DIPA, with tons of malt complexity and vanilla essence to balance the aggressive hop bill.

Unlike typical over-the-top hop bombs, the initial nose carries significant fruity esters, along with brandy-like alcohol and vanilla. Floral hops, pineapple, and fresh wet pine needles round out the subtle (for a DIPA), inviting aroma. Toffee sweetness hits first in the taste, followed by a solid, resinous smack of hops. The malts, oak and citric bite of hops combine to create a whiskey sour-like quality, right down to the smoky, boozy warmth and cherry sweetness. Oaky dryness and vanilla hold onto the middle, with a pine and grapefruit rind hop bitterness rising in the finish. An alcohol burn lingers in the sinuses on the long fade.

Considering the strong elements contributed by the wood aging, the mouthfeel is somewhat raw and grainy and could be a bit softer and creamier. No doubt some further aging will help with that, as well as mellowing the burn. Medium-full and sticky, this is definitely a sipper, but balanced and enjoyable. I had no problem finishing a 22-oz bomber, leaving me warm and happy.

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The snooty side of food pairings preaches “no wine with salad.” I fed on this falsehood for years, following the widely-held mantra like an evangelical wino. Then one day a miraculous salad and vino combo made me rethink my reliance on traditional not-so-wisdom.

Not that I was always so cool and contrarian. Before my re-awakening, I lapped up all the drivel wine magazines and writers spit out. But, like a rebellious teenager, I slowly realized it wasn’t adding up. Salads are simply another dish with sauce slathered on it. Match the sauce with the wine and you win. To give tradition some credit, back in the day salad dressings mostly contained robust vinegars like distilled white or cider that rendered wine lifeless and dull; it made sense to teach wine-with-salad avoidance. Times have changed, however. Now that less acidic rice or sweeter balsamic vinegars and lime and lemon use are common, wine and dressing can snuggle up and make sweet, tart love.

Continue reading Pairing Wine with Salad

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After months of battling mightily for the wine job of a lifetime, it appears that Atlanta’s own Hardy Wallace, aka Dirty South Wine, has landed Murphy Goode’s Really Goode Job. Well deserved, congrats, we knew we’d picked a winner.

Here’s the full release.

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Lagunitas Brewing Company
Petaluma, CA
7.3% ABV

Iconoclastic brewer Tony Magee and his crew don’t need much excuse to release a new beer, and their hop-forward wheat ale is the second to draw on the current economic crisis for inspiration. “So we are all on collective disability,” says the label. “That’s cool. Let’s put some ice on it and keep ourselves elevated for a while.” I couldn’t agree more. The brewery’s website says that this beer has a nice “wheaty-esque-ish-ness,” as if they were a bit embarassed to be releasing a wheat ale, considering their reputation for big, hoppy beers. They needn’t have worried, since this is not your typical pale wheat ale.

Sumpin’ Sumpin’ pours a glowing gold beer with excellent clarity. None of the unfiltered haziness or yeasty aroma often associated with wheat beers is present. Just fresh, piney, grapefruit-y hops and some cookie-like malts in the background. Hops dominate the taste, as well, with some tropical fruit notes. The wheat malt lightens the body a bit, but not to the point of being watery or thin. There is some breadiness mid-palate and a hint of yeasty tang, but mostly a firm, fruity sweetness carries the hop flavors aloft, and all else drops away. The mouthfeel is sticky, but soft, leading to a bone-dry finish. A modest bitterness lingers nicely, and the final impression is of a buttery white wine with some grainy tannins and palate-drying resins.

Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ might be a bit puckering and potent for swilling, but it nevertheless hides its alcohol well and is thankfully not overly sweet or bubble-gummy, making it a perfect summer sipper for hopheads. Another interesting concoction from Lagunitas.

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With all the new breweries that have come to Georgia in the last two to three years, the trip to the beer cooler at your local package store can be somewhat intimidating. Add to that the increased price of craft beers, and it can be difficult to plop down $8-10 on a 6-pack of an unknown quantity. That’s where beer tastings and beer dinners come in. For little or no money, you can sample new beers and get a sense of both the styles and brands that are worth your hard-earned money. There is no shortage of opportunities to sample beers in Atlanta. Here are a few regular or semi-regular tastings that are going on around town, along with a few upcoming beer dinners.

Hop City Craft Beer & Wine store hosts free beer tastings most every Wednesday at Octane Coffee Bar & Lounge across the street from their retail store. Magic Hat beers will be featured at this week’s tasting (July 15). In two weeks (July 29), sample beers from Sierra Nevada. Hop City has also teamed up with neighborhood caterer Figs & Honey, who operate Tiny Bistro, to host wine and beer events. Sign up for Hop City’s email list or become a fan on Facebook to get updates on the featured beers. (more…)

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Doppelbock, shmoppelbock: Shmaltz Rejewvenator 2009

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Saratoga Springs, NY
7.8% ABV

Rejewvenator is Shmaltz’ spring and summer seasonal, celebrating the barley harvest. This year’s incarnation is fermented with fresh-pressed date juice, honoring the fruit of the ancient date palm, a symbol of the Kingdom of Judea that was stamped on the ancient sheckel coin. According to Psalm 92:12, “The righteous shall flourish like the Date palm.” This is a righteous beer if I do say so. Two different Belgian ale yeasts were used, along with a lager yeast, imparting the the fruity esters of a Belgian dubbel as well as the clean, crisp fermentation of a German doppelbock.

Rejewvenator ‘09 pours a lovely cedar red with an inviting, slightly boozy aroma full of drunken plums, apricots, overripe bananas, and dates, natch. Generous hopping contributes some citrus rind and spruce as well. The taste is smooth and sweet up fron,t with brandied fruit flavors of candied dates, raisins, and figs, yielding to toffee and an ever-rising herbal hop and alcohol bite. Piney hops and anise settle on the palate with other tingly, almost prickly, spices. Hot alcohol lingers on the breath, which is a bit surprising for an under-8% beer. Banana and clove hang in the background, but this seems less like a doppelbock or a Belgian dubbel than an American-style barleywine or strong ale. It exhibits clean, crisp flavors throughout, with little residual graininess or earthiness in the malt profile.

Although the alcohol is a bit overbearing, Rejewvenator drinks like the celebratory ale that it is. The medium-full body and spot-on carbonation give it a festive character. I’m definitely going to save some for Christmas. Er, make that Hanukkah. L’Chaim!

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